Wheelchair Design for People with Tremors

Lead: Michael Behrens, UTS Rapido

Year: 2021

Northcott Innovation (NI) is a spin-off initiative of Northcott Disability Services, and seeks to create new and innovative solutions for people with disability. UTS Rapido Social is a humanitarian engineering program that provides much-needed technological support to organisations in the social good sector. The program delivers pro and low-bono technological development to high-impact social good organisations.

This project was born of a desire to better support a client of NI, a woman named Kyle. Kyle is an independent woman who has a passion for socialising, grabbing coffee in her local area, and getting out and about in her community.

Kyle also happens to have a traumatic brain injury and other disability support needs. For Kyle, her brain injury causes uncontrollable tremors in her arms and hands. These tremors make everyday activities such as driving her wheelchair and making a coffee challenging. The tremors also cause Kyle to frequently damage her wheelchair, break things within her home and at times injure herself.

Northcott Innovation approached UTS Rapido Social to understand whether innovation and engineering could help solve this problem. Mechatronics engineering proved a compelling solution in re-thinking the design of Kyle’s wheelchair, such that it could endure the tremors she experiences.

“The key technical challenge at-hand is to create a system that safely and reliably responds to a large tremor, and prevents uncontrolled wheelchair motion. The preferred embodiment will be a simple mechanical device, which allows the toggle to separate from the chair in the event of a large tremor, but subsequently re-assembles quickly and easily to allow continued use of the wheelchair.”  – Michael Behrens, Principle Delivery Manager, UTS Rapido

The collaborative team were successful in obtaining a UTS social impact grant, from a funding program run by the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. This funding will allow UTS Rapido Social, NI, Kyle and her therapy teams to use innovative frameworks and engineering to imagine, create, and test a state-of-the-art solution to enable her to drive her wheelchair independently and safely. This funding program, and the existence of the UTS Rapido Social program have also allowed the work to be delivered on a pro-bono basis.

“After decades of working alongside skilled therapists and technicians to try and identify a better, safer way to drive her wheelchair, Kyle was ready for change. NI and UTS Rapido Social hope to work alongside Kyle to bring together the best from the engineering and disability to create that positive change.” - Samantha Frain, Executive Director, Northcott Innovation.

The work of this cross-industry team is also set to tackle the global challenge of independent mobility for individuals who experience tremors, improving the quality of life of people with brain injuries, athetosis, Parkinson’s, and essential tremor.

UTS Rapido Social encourages other social good organisations facing tech-related challenges to get in touch.

“UTS Rapido Social is very pleased to be working with Northcott Innovation, and their client Kyle, in using innovation to overcome challenges faced by those who experience tremors. UTS is a public University defined by our support for the economic, social and cultural prosperity of our communities. The UTS Rapido Social program provides us with an opportunity to give back to society, and we welcome more opportunities to do similarly impactful work. ” – Hervé Harvard, Executive Director, Engineering and IT Solutions

Who will we work with?

• Dr Michael Behrens, Principle Delivery Manager, UTS Rapido
• Hervé Harvard, Executive Director, Engineering and IT Solutions
• Samantha Frain, Executive Director, Northcott Innovation 
• Kyle, Lived Experience Expert
• Sophie Ritchie, Social Impact Manager, Rapido

Funding Support

• UTS Social Impact Grant - Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion 

Network Research Themes

• Enabling Technology